Agriculture, Health Ministries Confirm No E. Coli Case Reported in Lebanon
Caretaker Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan and Director-General of the Health Ministry Walid Ammar denied on Saturday that there are E. coli cases in Lebanon.
Ammar told Voice of Lebanon radio station that Lebanon has an “active system that detects epidemics, and doctors always report any case they receive.”
The Director-General said that the E. coli bacteria is contagious and is transferred by mouth but fighting it isn’t hard. He noted that personal hygiene is enough to fight any infection.
The denial came after al-Liwaa daily reported that a citizen was infected with E. coli after eating some vegetables like cucumber, and is now being “treated at one of Beirut’s hospitals.”
Caretaker Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan had told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Saturday that no E. coli case has been detected in Lebanon.
“These are only rumors due to fears that Lebanon might enter the crisis,” Hajj Hassan said.
He remarked that the ministry withdrew samples from vegetables in the market to make sure they are healthy.
Lebanon imposed a ban on Friday on all vegetable imports from the European Union in response to the outbreak of E. coli poisoning, Hajj Hassan said.
"We have decided to ban the import of all types of vegetables from Europe," he told Agence France Presse on Friday.
As scientists scramble to find the source of the E. coli outbreak linked to raw vegetables that has killed 19 in Europe and sickened nearly 2,000, consumers are swearing off lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes just in case.
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